. >> reporter: it looked like a campaign stop in battleground ohio mitt romney deliberately stepped off the stump to accept leaf donations and encourage more but he avoided questions about his previous stance on the role of fema. >> governor, would you eliminate fema if you were president? >> reporter: president obama stayed in washington to visit red cross, attend briefings with governors and utility ceos. >> i think he's handled it well. >> reporter: compassionate or calculated, depending on who called into the radio show in youngstown, ohio. >> where was it when it happened in ben gaza and i and he flew t snas he learned his lesson. >> reporter: a vital corner of a vial state with 28 visits from romney this year, 19 from obama. >> president obama wasn't able to come as planned because of the storm. >> reporter: do you think that hurts his cause in ohio? >> absolutely not. i think more people respect him for doing what what the president is supposed to do. >> reporter: the drizzle wasn't enough to keem elaine from going door to door on obama's behalf tonight. >> hi, how are you? >> re